Current conduction in Cr-MIS solar cells on single-crystal p-silicon

New information has been obtained about the current conduction in Cr-MIS solar cells by studying their current-voltage relationship over a wide range of temperatures. It is demonstrated that majority-carrier tunneling over the combined barrier due to the interfacial oxide and the space-charge region dominates the I-V characteristics at temperatures below 250°K for Cr-SiO_x- (p-Si) solar cells. Insight about the shunt resistance and back-contact barrier is also obtained by plotting the activation energy versus applied bias. Majority carriers tunneling via interface states control the characteristics at higher temperatures for these devices, made on 0.4-Ω cm p-silicon.